How do landlords protect themselves from liability?
 

In light of the recent (sad) dog attack on the historic side, as many of the folks on this site are also landlords and many of the short term and long term renters often do have pets.
What is the best approach for us to ensure a banned breed does not show up, other than simply saying no pet?
Any suggestions?
See recent Forbes article linked, thank you

Dog Breeds Banned By Home Insurance Companies – Forbes Advisor

You can prohibit pets, but you cannot prohibit service dogs. That would violate the Federal ADA law. I'm glad I am no longer a landlord.

There is not enough money in the world, to convince me to rent to someone who has pet of any type. It's just not worth the risk.

If the tenant says it's a service dog, you don't have a choice. You cannot ban service dogs.

Actually that isn't entirely true. That is true if it's someone trying to go into a store with an animal, but not with regards to housing.

If someone wants to LIVE in a building, with their animal - the landlord has the right to require that the person show evidence that he has an actual disability AND that the animal is trained to perform a service in direct relation to that specific disability.

Such as a dog that is trained to detect the onset of an epileptic seizure - the person has to provide documentation showing that he actually suffers from epileptic seizures, AND that the dog is specifically trained to detect the onset of them.

This is the only time that the right of the property owner outweighs a claim of the animal's handler.

Was in the insurance adjusting business. In Florida owner of the dog is responsible for dog bites and laws make it easy for an injured person to make a claim against the dog owner. Property owner can have some responsibility. Suggest that if you have a renter with a dog, make sure that the renter does have good(with high limits) liability insurance that does not have an exclsion for dog bites and/or doge bites by certain breeds. If a bad dog bite occurs on your rented property, chances of getting sued are high and you would want to make sure that your own insurance company will protect you.

Odds of a true service dog biting someone is low. Brother had a trained/certified service dog and that dog was trained for 18 months and had to have certain charactersistics, such as dog will not bark.

I would suggest you do further research, because your response is flat out, wrong.

Florida is one of the most liberal states when it comes to Service Dogs or ESA's. A person with a so called "disability", need only have a tele-health consultation with an out-of state Social Worker, who can then certify the "need" and the animal needs NO special training. (Fla. Stat. § 413.08 (2022).), (Fla. Stat. § 760.27(2) (2022).)

Florida Passes New 2020 Law for Emotional Support Animals: What Every ESA Owner Needs to Know - ESA Doctors

Florida Laws on Service Dogs and Emotional Support Animals | Nolo


New Emotional Support Animal Law Florida 2020 - What it Means for Landlords and Condo Residents with an ESA Dog or Cat | CondoBlackBook Blog

Getting a dog ESA certified is easy. The dog doesn’t get certified, the owner gets a doctor note saying they need an ESA. Note, the A in ESA is ANIMAL, so you can have an Emotional Support Ferret.
NOW - I am not a lawyer - but I would think if someone presents an ESA certificate, landlord might be better protected legally, with a defense that you had no choice.
Doesn’t mean you wont get sued though.

An "emotional support animal" is not a Service Animal. They mean different things, and have to follow different rules. Someone was referring to a Service Animal. I responded to that post. You want to add more criteria or nitpick - okay.

So now let's talk about whether or not a renter is allowed to bring little red wagons into their rented living rooms.

Because - changing topics to prove a point that no one is challenging seems to be all the rage.

I think the important point is that, if you are a landlord today, you may not want a dog living in your house. But, you may not be able to prevent it from happening. That is one reason why I am glad that I am not landlord. When I owned and managed rental property, I didn't allow any dogs or cats at all, and it had nothing to do with liability.

Two best ways of protecting oneself as a landlord/lady:

1. Thorough credit/background/reference/criminal history check;
2. Solid thorough rental agreement contract.

I used one in the back of the Nolo Press book for California landlords. You can cut/paste clauses to meet your needs. I even had clauses regarding acknowledging that it was understood by all parties that the risk of secondhand smoke from neighbor's balconies or porches was both uncontrollable and an assumed risk by the renters. I'm certain there were clauses regarding animal bites, flea and tick (Lyme disease) exposures, etc.

Starting point: Landlord Books - Nolo

Ways to protect yourself and limit liability: Do not allow pets; Do not provide a golf cart; Do not allow smokers; Verify identities of potential residents via current drivers license; do background checks at renters expense; Do your own background check via google and facebook; rent only to US citizens; have iron clad lease; have a sufficient umbrella policy.

I love this....reading all the non-lawyers giving legal advice (which, by the way, is a felony in the state of Florida).

I love those who say use an "iron clad" lease. No, thank about it. Who would want a lease that is full of holes. So, the expression "iron clad" is merely a wish...not a reality.

Then, there are those who cut and paste from a book meant for a different jurisdiction and come up with...voila...the lease to beat all leases. Perhaps a potential Florida landlord might want to review the substantial statutory provisions related to landlord/tenant law.

While there are legitimate methods for limiting risk, no method is foolproof! Moreover, some of it requires a potential landlord to lay out money, for the creation of legal entities, proper insurance coverage and proper evaluation of tenants. But, if one takes the cheepo method of attempting to limit risk and do it themselves to save money, one should recognize that the "legal" methods one comes up for free....is worth just about as much as one paid for it.

This whole thread makes me want to go and read a book on self-administered heart operations for my clogged arteries!

It's not a crime to give legal advice unless you charge money for it.